Caucasus Emirate

The Caucasus Emirate was a militant jihadist organization active in the Caucasus region of southwestern Russia from 7 October 2007 to 17 August 2016. The emirate was proclaimed by the President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Dokka Umarov, who sought to expel the Russian Army from the northern Caucasus and establish an independent Islamic emirate in the region. The organization waged a guerrilla war against the Russians, launching terrorist attacks against both military and civilian targets both in the northern Caucasus and across the Russian Federation. The emirate's emirs would be hunted down by the FSB and the military, with Dokka Umarov being killed in 2013, Aliaskhab Kebekov in 2015, Magomed Suleymanov in 2015, and Zalim Shebzukhov in 2016. By late 2015, the emirate no longer had a visible presence in the Caucasus, with most of its members defecting to the Islamic State's Vilayat Kavkaz; the main factions in Russia and Syria were defunct by 17 August 2016, while only two small remnant groups were active in Syria as of 2017.